MT. HERMON — Southern Alamance’s offense barely slowed down and when it did the defense was there to tidy things up for the host Patriots in their stunning 54-40 triumph against Eastern Alamance in Friday night’s non-conference football game.

Senior quarterback Jonathan Lloyd accounted for more than 500 yards of offense and Jourdan Osinskie scored four touchdowns, leaving the Eagles reeling from the nearly nonstop assault.

“That’s the goal. Offense looked good,” Lloyd said. “It’s one of those nights when everything was clicking.”

Lloyd threw two touchdown passes and ran for two touchdowns. He racked up a career-best 317 yards through the air and another 195 on the ground as the Patriots improved to 2-1.

Eastern Alamance (2-1), which won the previous eight meetings in the series, didn’t have answers.

SEE VIDEO HIGHLIGHTS FROM THE GAME

“We just didn’t play to our potential,” Eastern Alamance linebacker Logan Morgan said. “They definitely came out and were ready to play. I thought we came ready to beat them. Our defense couldn’t come back and respond.”

Southern Alamance coach Andrew Carrouth said: “I was so proud of our offense, especially our offensive line. … You never really felt (the Eagles) were out of it. We had to keep playing ball.”

“Overall, we did what we needed to do,” Osinskie said. “We came back even harder (after they scored).”

It was a lopsided first half statistically, yet the Eagles led briefly in the second quarter. Southern Alamance conducted 49 first-half plays on offense (plus benefitted from two pass interference penalties), while Eastern Alamance took 12 first-half snaps.

Southern Alamance had 23 first downs by halftime.

“I’m thinking that I don’t know if we want to get in a slugfest,” Eastern Alamance coach John Kirby said. “We couldn’t stop them. They controlled the line of scrimmage and they knocked us off the ball.”

Then Eastern Alamance lost the ball when the second-half kickoff was muffed. Lloyd ran 27 yards on the next play and Osinski followed with a 1-yard touchdown run.

When the Eagles pulled within 40-25 in the third quarter and then an onside kick failed to go the required distance, Lloyd took the next snap on a 49-yard touchdown jaunt.

But after Southern Alamance fumbled at the Eagles’ 1-yard line with 10 ˝ minutes left and leading 46-33, the momentum shifted again when Blake Issacs intercepted John Lamot’s pass and went untouched 33 yards for a touchdown.

Issacs, a junior, called it his career highlight.

“I kind of dove for it and caught it,” Issacs said. “No one was there (to catch me).”

Page 2 of 2 - Lloyd’s touchdown passes went for 62 yards to Osinskie and 4 yards to Alford Ellison, both in the final 7˝ minutes of first half. Osinskie had 140 receiving yards.

Wilson scored on pass plays of 59 and 52 yards. Malcolm Summers picked up a 37-yard touchdown reception and Gavin Dicken scored on a 37-yard pass play from Joey Lanier. Lamot ran for a 46-yard score.

Trailing 20-14 in the second quarter, Summers returned a kickoff 70 yards to the Southern Alamance 20. That’s when one of the few defensive stands took place, with the Eagles settling for Eric Fenton’s 37-yard field goal.

Four plays into the game, Eastern Alamance lost leading tackler Dadrian Saunders, a senior defensive end, who was knocked hard to the ground on an open-field block. He was placed on a board and lifted onto a stretcher, taken from the stadium in an ambulance. He reported having numbness on his left side, Kirby said.

â–Ş A spokesman with the Alamance County SherriffÂ’s Department said earlier in the day that department personnel was aware of what were described as bounty-type threats exchanged earlier in the week in advance of the game, allegedly involving players. Tim Britt from the department said the communication in question between the teams apparently came in text messages.

Southern Alamance principal Teresa Faucette said prior to the game that allegations were checked out and they were nothing more than foolish trash talk. Officials from both schools were monitoring the situation, she said.

Both coaches addressed the issue after the game. For more on the subject, see Sunday’s Times-News.